


As Steady as Morning Coffee

by PilDoor



Category: Supernatural, destiel - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Challenges, College Student Cas, Established Relationship, Flirting, Fluff, Friendship, M/M, Oblivious Charlie, Oneshot, Swearing, fanfiction challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-21
Updated: 2016-03-21
Packaged: 2018-05-28 05:03:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6315844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PilDoor/pseuds/PilDoor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Write a coffee shop AU of your favorite OTP. Give it cheesy fluff, such as sweet kisses over a cappuccino, gazing at each other lovingly in Starbucks, whatever you want!"</p><p>I tried!</p><p>Charlie works at a coffee shop and every morning she sees the same hot accountant-type guy come in for coffee and every morning she sees her co-worker Dean drool over him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	As Steady as Morning Coffee

“Has it been busy today?” Charlie asks as she ties the apron behind her back.

“Morning rush, hungover college students, shopping house-wives. Same as usual. Did you enjoy your morning off?” Dean asks over his shoulder from where he’s pouring the ground coffee beans into the machine.

“Hell yeah, had a Lord of the Rings marathon last night AND got enough rest for once!” She wipes at stray granules on the counter and grins at Dean’s smirk. She knows what he’s going to ask.

“What about that date of yours?”

She’d seen it coming but she can’t help giggling anyways. “That was the marathon. You know a girl’s a keeper if she says yes to that after a 2 hour dinner date.”

Dean wiggled his eyebrows, “What base did you get to?”

“I don’t kiss and tell,” she smiles and turns to the customers that had just entered the shop.

She doesn’t kiss and tell in general, but was she going to start she definitely wouldn’t tell someone who remains mute about his own obvious crushes and apparently-not-single statuses. She’d been employed at the on-campus coffee shop for a little under a month, and every single time she had a shift with Dean she was subject to obvious eye-sex and flirtatious hearts on to-go cups and stone-cold silences when it came to the blue-eyed, sex-haired, friggin angel-faced college-student that came by at least once a day - more often if Dean was working. The stone-cold silences were directed at her. At first she’d assumed Dean was shy, that he hadn’t even exchanged two words with the guy and had therefore suggested he ask him out. Dean had kind of grinned in a mysterious way (and actually kind of blushed, which – she didn’t know Dean well but he wasn’t a blusher, so…).  
Her second theory had been that maybe they’d hooked up once. Dean had friends at the college though he didn’t attend it himself, so he was sometimes invited along to parties. She then figured that they’d either have talked about Dean’s advances by now, or the guy would have found another coffee shop to go to. So she’d discarded that theory as well.

Maybe Dean was catfishing him. Had found him online and given him a fake name and picture and then gotten in too deep to tell him. And the mysterious French vanilla-addict might just be used to being flirted with at public stores (he was gorgeous, honestly).

“Did loverboy stop by?” she asks, closing the register and smiling at the customers as they leave the store. 

“You could say that.” Whatever that means.

Charlie looks out at the café. There aren’t many, a few business people in ironed shirts with Mac laptops and grande Americanos, college students lost in their assignments, buried under piles of notes, empty Red Bull cans (which they aren't supposed to bring into the shop, but Charlie gets it) and stacks of coffee mugs, and a few tourists and teenage girls instagramming the cappuccino foam art and misspelled names on cardboard cups. 

“Seriously Dean, what’s the deal? You can flirt your way to anything, I’ve seen you get free shots at the bar in town the last three weekends, what’s with the sudden cock freight when it comes to this guy?” There are more direct approaches than extra biscotti’s and ready-made frappuccinos in the 3pm rush hour.

She doesn’t miss the look Dean gives her as a bleach-blonde soccer-mom coughs offended and Charlie turns to get her order. Maybe she shouldn’t say words like ‘cock’ while on the clock.

When the real housewife of San Fran leaves in a huff of iPhone E-mail checking and no-foam soy latte, Charlie turns to Dean, who swiftly distracts her with which is better-questions, movie/book edition.

X

At five to 3pm Dean takes the time to prepare a vanilla frappuccino even though they’re amidst a post-school/work rush. Charlie looks up from where she’s foaming milk to see a, at this point, familiar dark bedhead. Loverboy has arrived. Charlie feels tempted to push Dean aside to serve him herself just to see their reaction, but his drink is already made and Dean is practically beaming at the guy as he rests his elbows on the counter. 

They’re talking and smiling and being disgustingly obvious, but Charlie is unfortunately too far away – and in a busy coffee shop – to hear them. The guy leaves with a wave and Charlie is pretty sure Dean winks at him before promptly checking out his ass when he leaves through the door.

X

They’re cleaning up the store and getting ready to go home before Charlie has a chance to tease him. “So Loverboy seemed busy today?”

Dean rolls his eye at the – perhaps childish – nickname, but she’s never taken his order, so she has no idea what his name is. “His name is Castiel,” he says from the middle of the shop where he’s sweeping the floor. “There was a guest-speaker from Oxford he wanted to see.”

Charlie squints her eyes suspiciously at Dean, though he’s too busy sweeping to see. Does Dean pay really good attention to small-talk or do they actually converse like functioning adults? Either is hard to imagine.

She hands Dean the sweeping tray when he comes back to the counter and he asks if Charlie has plans to see her date again. Charlie shrugs, “She LARPs sometimes. We’re gonna go this weekend.”

Dean nods, an ‘I see’-gesture as he puts away the broom and tray and holds the door to the back room open for Charlie to go through. “Not a lot of double-dating opportunities there.”

Charlie looks at him questioningly, because what the fuck is he going on about? “Are you kidding? There are like a million other people there! It’s not possible to do a private LARPing date!”

She’s granted with a huff of laughter and an eye roll, “I meant with my boyfriend and I, you dumbass.” And hold the fuck up! Charlie stops to look at him with one arm through her jacket sleeve. 

“Boyfriend?” Wow, is Charlie really friends with some two-timing asshat? What wouldn’t Dean’s apparent ‘boyfriend’ think if he saw the way Dean acted around this Castiel-fella?

Dean just smirks and gestures at the open door leading outside, so he can lock up and go home to his loving boyfriend. “You did know I’m gay, right?” And Jesus Christ, that so isn’t the issue. She just nods. She’s only known Dean for about three weeks and it’s not her place. She doesn’t even really know the extent of Dean and Castiel’s flirting. She decides to give it a rest. At least until tomorrow. She’ll have to figure out what exactly is going on first and she doesn’t want to embarrass herself. 

X

Charlie figures her plan is pretty much shot to hell when Dean rushes in the door 15 minutes late, already looking pretty pissed off, only to spend another 15 minutes getting yelled at by Bobby – their boss. He comes into the café from the back room looking murderous. Charlie doesn’t dare say anything, and thankfully the midday lunch time rush is still very much ago, so she doesn’t have to. She does, however, have to put Dean on coffee machine and milk foaming duty when he keeps spilling coffee, burning paninis and dropping money on the floor at his position behind the counter.  
By the time the Friday lunchers have been fed, she has just about mustered up enough courage to ask about his Hulk Angry, Hulk Smash-mood. 

Dean leans against the counter, his back facing the tables in the café, as his sighs and runs a hand over his face. It isn’t till then Charlie realizes that Loverboy – sorry, Castiel – hasn’t made an appearance today. Weird. Anyway…

“Hey sunshine, how are you?” she asks sweetly at him, pouring very hot and very black coffee in a big mug before sliding it along the counter to him. He lifts the corner of his mouth at her for a second before taking a sip. “Got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? What’s wrong?” she leans next to him, not looking away though he’s so emotionally constipated – it doesn’t take a genius to figure that one – that he’d probably prefer her to look anywhere else. 

Dean’s certainly studying the coffee with an intensity Charlie herself reserves for cosplay costumes and eBay auctions, when he answers, “Fight with the boyfriend, it’s not a big deal.”

For a moment Charlie doesn’t say anything, “What about?” might it be this Castiel character? Dean had been pretty obvious about the crush in the café, maybe the boyfriend had seen them. Or maybe Dean had been gushing about this angelic creature he spared time and effort to make hearts and little animals or cartoon characters in milky foam for. Dean didn’t seem any more of a gushing type than he did a blushing one – about anyone, hell Charlie hadn’t even known he had a boyfriend until yesterday. 

“Nothing, I forgot something. It’s not a big deal,” Dean says to his mug.

“You almost broke the glass door the way you slammed it and you yelled at a girl for being indecisive about her order. Yeah, that certainly doesn’t sound like it was a big deal to you,” Charlie raises an eyebrow, though Dean still isn’t looking at her. He just shrugs.

“Was it about Castiel?” that got a reaction. An odd one. 

Dean just looks slightly puzzled, “No? I was being stupid, plus he’s been stressed out lately and I’m not always the most considerate person.”

She just nods, “But don’t you think he’s noticed? I mean yeah, you flirt with pretty much all the customers, you’re a flirtatious person, but sometimes it’s pretty… indisputable,” Charlie lifts a saying eyebrow.

Dean seems to mull it over for a second, looking skeptic, “I don’t think he’s bothered about that, he’s always known I’m a flirt. He knows I’d never cheat on him or anything like that.”

“You know for sure you wouldn’t? Like a hundred percent?” she being a little sly, she knows. She only wants him to realize what the fuck he’s doing with and around Castiel. 

Dean looks completely indignant, “Yes! Charlie, what the hell are you suggesting?” 

She decided to let it drop with a “Nevermind.”

Dean remains somewhat offended though, because they carry on with their shift without the usual banter, and she could probably brush some of it off with the fact that they’re busy, but it still feels a little awkward. 

Awkward enough that when the rush dies down a little and she sees Castiel entering the shop, she doesn’t point it out. Dean doesn’t see because he’s busy taking apart one of the coffee machines to clean it properly, thus leaving Charlie to serve Castiel for the first time ever.

“Hey,” she smiles, “Your order isn’t ready, so you’re gonna have to wait a few minutes today.” 

Castiel is all big, innocent eyes and apologetic hand gestures, “Oh no, of course, I didn’t- I didn’t expect it to be,” and holy shit is his voice deep. She can understand Dean wanting to make small talk with this guy, only to indulge in his voice. All whiskey and molasses and sex. She guesses. It’s not like she’s ever actually heard a man’s sex/post-sex voice. 

It seems to get Dean’s attention though, as he bangs his head on the half-opened lid of the coffee machine, “Fucking shit, ouch!” but he makes it out. And fucking stares at Castiel, even as he steps down from the stool and comes over to the counter, “Cas, what are you doing here? I thought there was that lecture with the Oxford guy?” they have eyes for nothing else but each other, and there’s a small line forming behind Castiel and frankly, it’s rude and annoying and totally adorable. 

She elbows Dean, “Hey! What was that for?” and she just gestures at the line. 

Dean frowns quickly, “Can you give me a minute, Charlie?” and she figures she can, the line is really only three people long, and she’s pretty sure two of the customers are together, so she nods.

And then it’s just really strange, how Dean steps away from the counter and accompanies Castiel to one of the tables where they stare at each other some more and, she guesses, talk about English professors? Or fights with boyfriends? Who knows, she doesn’t understand men anyway.

She serves the customers quickly and takes over Dean’s job of cleaning the coffee machine. Or pretends to, really she’s just spying on the two boys as they seem to gravitate closer and closer to each other, despite the fact that there’s a table between them. Then Dean stands up and leans over the table and Charlie’s very close to giggling at that, but then he frigging kisses Castiel and Castiel frigging kisses back, hand in Dean’s hair and all. They flinch apart when Charlie drops the creamer she was holding on to. And she’s very much busted in her spying.

She’s embarrassed for a quarter of a moment, then confused and lastly a little offended and righteous. “Thought you said you didn’t cheat, Dean,” and Charlie knows it’s cruel to say that so loudly, and she knows everyone in the café heard it, but he had made the whole shift awkward when she had so much as suggested it.

Castiel looks away from her and frowns up at Dean, and that just makes it worse. Poor boy probably didn’t even know that Dean has a boyfriend. Dean turns sharply to Castiel, wide eyes and innocence rolling off him, “I’m not! Cas, I’m not!” Castiel is getting up from the table, making to walk away, but Dean grabs his wrist, “Cas, baby, I’m not, I wouldn’t!” He looks at Charlie for a second, and she gets a little intimidated at the look on his face. Not scared, of course, but it’s quite clear that Dean is mad, “What the fuck, Charlie?!” 

She’s too confused to say anything.

Castiel stops trying to get away and Dean lets his hand slide from his wrist to grab his hand instead, intertwining their fingers. He says something but it’s too quiet for her to hear. Castiel looks to Charlie, then walks over to the counter, determination on his face and dragging Dean after him by his hand.

“What did you mean by that comment, Charlie? Can I call you Charlie?” Castiel asks, and is he 60 years old? Why does he talk like that?

Charlie sets about to explain, about their obvious flirting and Dean’s boyfriend and the argument and Dean’s offense at the thought of him cheating. She doesn’t get that far, because both boys start laughing when she mentions Dean’s boyfriend. 

“Charlie, oh my god! Cas is my boyfriend,” they laugh even harder at Charlie’s disbelieving facial expression and she can understand why. She probably looks like some sort of baby animal that was just told it’s not of a species that flies.

“How- What? Why didn’t you say so?” she asks and Castiel looks to Dean like he would like to know the same thing.

“Are you serious? We arrive here together whenever I have the morning shift. You’ve pointed out the obvious flirting yourself – more than once. And you call him Loverboy!” Dean is still laughing, “I didn’t tell you in so many words, because I thought you knew!”

Charlie blushes, because really? Who the fuck else would it have been? She drops her head into her hands, “Jesus, what a mess. I’m so sorry. It’s just- You’ve never talked much about him, you know? I only found out you even had a boyfriend yesterday.” 

She needs to stop talking very soon, because Castiel gives Dean another dissatisfied look and Dean at him shrugs sheepishly.


End file.
